There are men and women who make their living dealing death from the shadows. These people are called assassins. Most are trained by secret guilds or societies; civilized lands generally forbid and destroy such organizations.
| ASSASSIN LEVEL | ATTACK BONUS |
|---|
| 1-2 |
+1 |
| 3-4 |
+2 |
| 5-6 |
+3 |
| 7-8 |
+4 |
| 9-11 |
+5 |
| 12-14 |
+6 |
| 15-17 |
+7 |
| 18-20 |
+8 |
Assassins have several special abilities, as listed on the table below. Some abilities are shared with the Thief class, and are described in the Core Rules. Those abilities special to the Assassin class are as follows:
Poison: Assassins learn the art of making lethal poisons. Poisons are often quite expensive to make; it is not uncommon for a single application of contact poison to cost 500 gp or more. The GM is advised to take care that poison does not become too much of an easy solution for the Assassin.
Assassinate: This is the Assassin's primary special ability. As with the Thief's Sneak Attack ability, any time an Assassin is behind an opponent in melee and it is reasonably likely the opponent doesn't know he or she is there, an attempt to assassinate may be made. The attack must be carried out with a one-handed piercing weapon, such as a dagger or sword. The attack is rolled at an attack bonus of +4, and if the attack hits, the victim must roll a saving throw vs. Death Ray or be instantly killed. If this saving throw is a success, the victim still suffers normal weapon damage. At the GM's option, characters two or more levels lower than the Assassin may be denied a saving throw.
Waylay: An Assassin can attempt to knock out an opponent in a single strike. This is performed in much the same way as the Assassinate ability, but the Assassin must be using a weapon that does subduing damage normally (i.e. a club or cudgel). The attack is rolled at a +4 attack bonus; if the Assassin hits, the victim must make a saving throw vs. Death Ray or be knocked unconscious. If this roll is made, the victim still suffers normal subduing damage. Creatures knocked unconscious by a Waylay attack will remain that way for 2d8 turns if not awakened.
Note that bounty hunters are often Assassins, who use the Waylay ability in the course of their (more or less) lawful activities.
SUPPLEMENTS
Effects of Armor
Assassins can use any kind of armor or shield but applies adjustments to their Assassin abilities based on what sort of armor is employed. Leather armor is the “default” type of armor, and applies no bonus or penalty to a Assassin wearing such armor. Otherwise:
- wearing no armor imparts a 10% bonus
- wearing chain imparts a 20% penalty
- wearing plate imparts a 40% penalty
- wearing a shield imparts 10% penalty (cumulative with other penalties above).
Assassin Abilities
Some players of Assassins may wish to have more control over their Assassin abilities. If you study the Assassin Abilities table, you'll discover its secret: from levels 2-9, the Assassin improves 30 percentiles (total) each level; from levels 10- 15, 20 percentiles; and from level 16 on, 10 percentiles. If you wish, a Assassin is allowed customization, allocate these points as you wish rather than following the table. No more than 10 percentiles can be added to any single Assassin ability per level gain. No Assassin ability may be raised above 99 percent.
Ability Bonus or Penalty Adjustments
Each Assassin ability is governed by an ability score (as given below). Add to each Assassin ability the relevant ability score modifier times five (i.e. +1 gives +5%, +2 gives +10%, and so on). The dominant ability scores for Assassin abilities are as follows:
| ASSASSIN ABILITES | ABILITY SCORE |
|---|
| Open Locks, Pick Pockets, Move Silently |
DEXTERITY |
| Hide |
INTELLIGENCE |
| Listen, Poison |
WISDOM |
| Climb |
STRENGTH |
